Chapter 197 - Astrology

The night after leaving the goblin village, Vell and Sonder sat beside a crackling campfire, the starry sky stretching endlessly above them. 

Sonder gazed upward as she traced patterns among the constellations.

She turned to Vell and asked, "I've heard wizards can predict the future by reading the stars. Is that true?" 

Vell, reclining against a moss-covered tree trunk with one knee bent, lifted his head slightly. "It's... a method. Though not a reliable one." 

"So, it is true?" she pressed.

Vell exhaled and sat up fully. "Somewhat," he admitted. "Mages don't just look at the stars, Sonder. They channel energy through themselves. Trying to glimpse the future isn't like reading words on a page. It takes immense energy, and even then, the results are rarely clear—or accurate." 

He stood, raising a hand toward the sky. "Sometimes, when the stars align, you can draw energy from them. Stars are strange things. The energy they hold isn't bound by time. It comes from the past, the present, and even the future. But interpreting that energy? That's where it becomes difficult." 

A faint, shimmering light pulsed around his outstretched arm, flowing toward his fingertips in gentle waves. Then, with a slow exhale, he closed his fist, the glow fading. 

Sonder watched. 'Did the stars just tell you something?' 

Vell shrugged, lowering his hand. "There are too many variables—your beliefs, your gods, your own past and future. Even magical skill plays a part. Many try, but most can't even understand the energy they're drawing in, let alone make sense of it. It's like handing a blind man a book and asking him to explain the story inside." He hesitated, then added, "I don't even think what I just saw was connected to me—or you." 

Sonder tilted her head. "But... if you had to explain what you felt, how would you describe it?" 

"It wasn't a vision, not clearly. Just fragments. Echoes. Pain... loss... things that haven't happened yet. Or maybe they already have. That's the problem with astrology—it's impossible to tell where one thing ends and another begins." 

Sonder frowned, leaning back against a fallen log. "That sounds terrifying. Like glimpsing fate but never fully understanding it." 

Vell gave a hollow chuckle. "It is. And worse—people have gone mad trying to make sense of it all. But it does make you wonder... what if some moments are already written? Or what if those visions are just warnings—things that could happen, not things that must?" 

After a moment, Sonder asked, "So... you don't trust it?" 

Vell shook his head. "I trust the stars. But not the interpretations. Magic was never meant to give certainty. If you want to know more, though—" He hesitated, then added, "Hiraeth knows far more about it than I do. You should ask him sometime."